When I got wind of Martha Stewart planning a show about blogging, I made sure to apply for a ticket. They wanted only bloggers in the audience and you had to fill out this whole questionnaire — I might have mentioned that Martha is my “neighbor” and that I am, after her, the person with the most Twitter followers in Katonah. A few days later, I received an e-mail that I was in. I was exited but, gulp, they wanted us there at 8:30 in the morning! How was I going to wing that?
After some back and forth, I decided to go, mostly because Don was able to take Landon to school and pick him up after lunch that day. Thank you, Sweets! So after only a few hours of sleep I got up at 5 a.m. and off I went on my Martha Stewart blogging show adventure!
I was amazed how many people board the train in Katonah at 6:30 in the morning. That’s a lot of sleep-deprived people hurdling toward New York City! After taking the train, a shuttle, and the subway, I arrived at the Chelsea studios at about 8 a.m. Can you tell that it was early in the morning?
While waiting to get into the show, I met Nicole, who blogs a The Pink Chandelier. She couldn’t have been nicer and was there with her mom.
Once we got our official ticket and passed through metal detectors, we were ushered into a room where we signed our life away and then got to mingle for half an hour before they let us in the studio.
Martha, Martha, Martha . . . and me, and merchandise.
I got to meet Jessie, who blogs at Momma Lovebug and came all the way from Maryland. We had connected via Twitter before the show, and it was so nice to meet her in person.
After some instructions, were were let into the studio in groups. It’s beautifully decorated.
I have been on sets before when I lived in Los Angeles, so it wasn’t a surprise to me how many people it takes to make this show happen.
I got to sit right in the middle of the set and next to Dina from BabyCenter who I remembered seeing at my first blogging brunch a few months back. They had planned to interview her on the show but then ran out of time, which was disappointing.
Everyone attending the show had to bring a laptop or a Blackberry so we could tweet and blog while the show was going on. Since I don’t own a Blackberry, read here why, I badgered Don into giving me his, only to find out that the “p” and the @ button didn’t work! I somehow still managed to tweet about 10 times during the show.
Martha interviewed her daughter Alexis — who was unprepared for the show and a bit rude, actually — and her sidekick of the “Whatever” Girls, and made Pad Tai with a food blogger, Pim. It smelled delicious and I was starving at that point. We all received her cook book after the show. I had secretly hoped that we would all get a cool little gadget or maybe even a netbook (a girl can dream — I need one), but this book is beautiful and god knows I can use a lot of help with our new kinder, vegetarian diet. So this book was a welcome gift, especially because it has a lot of pretty pictures.
Martha also iced a cake and did a craft project with two other bloggers. You can read more about all the guests on the show here.
Martha took a few questions after the show. She was very engaging and friendly and had great tips for everyone.
After the show, I said good-bye to a few bloggers, like Dina and Colleen, who blogs at Classy Mommy. For her blog entry and pictures of the show, click here.
After I got turned around a couple of times and spent an extra $4.50 in subway fare, I made it back to Grand Central Station. I had almost an hour to kill before the next train to Katonah, so I ate a quick bite and then remembered that a girlfriend of mine told me that the market there has a stand with German food. I had to check it out, of course.
Look at what I found! These are chocolate-covered marshmallow-ish “kisses” that I grew up with. No, I didn’t buy four boxes, not because I have that much self-control but because I am simply too frugal — I bought one and a few bags of liquorish and gummy candy.
I even refrained from buying my favorite hazelnut Milka chocolate. That took some willpower, let me tell you.
I was a bit disappointed that the blogging show was really not about blogging but about a few blogs that mainly had to do with Martha, but I still had fun. The most exiting aspect of the whole day was that I got to make some new blogging friends I intend to stay in contact with and learn from. It would have been great if the show would have touched on how amazingly supportive the community of bloggers is.
I had taped the show, and you could see me about seven times. Landon was exited to see Mommy on TV. Martha, if you are ever short of a guest, swing by on your way to the studio!
Update: Want to see me on TV? The Martha Stewart blogging show is now online. And here is the list of all the bloggers who attended.
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That was such an awesome, thorough recap!!!! Great pics! The show was so much fun, wasn’t it? So great seeing you again! :-) http://www.prissymommy.com/photos/blogger_meetup/bloggershow-005.html
Wow, how did you sneak a photo of me in there. I’m stealing that photo! LOL. Great recap. I love Whole Foods, they have everything from all over. Glad you discovered it :)
That sounds like it was really fun!! I’m sad that I wasn’t able to go… oh well… Thanks for sharing your pics, awesome!!
It was so great to meet you too! I would love to help you start vlogging. It’s a great medium and a wonderful way to express yourself.
How fun!! I wish I was closer to NYC, I would have loved to come.
Wow! What a great experience! It seems like Martha might not really “get” blogging after all, and just wanted to have lots of bloggers giving her publicity. But I still would have LOVED to go to the show!
Wow, sounds like it was a great opportunity!! Glad you had the experience!
What a cool opportunity Dagmar! Makes me wish I lived closer to a big city so I could take advantage of these kinds of things.
That sounds like it was fun! How lucky that you got to go!
Great post, Dagmar! I actually watched the show that day when I saw you were on your way. Martha’s daughter was downright rude and it was painful to watch. Commercial please!! But, it looks like your experience as a whole was fabulous! I wish I lived that close to New York City!!
I also wish the show had been more about “blogging”. I enjoyed that Martha was recognizing her hard core fans and it was v. cool of her to do that, it was also so very self-serving. The studio was awesome and I loved the energy of all us bloggy peeps in one place.
And wasn’t Alexis a real trip? So rude and clearly she did not want to be there. I think if Brian Williams had been attending, as originally planned prior to the tragedy in Haiti, perhaps the show might have been a bit more about blogging. Great to meet you!
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